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Title: Chlorinated Wide-Bandgap Donor Polymer Enabling Annealing Free Nonfullerene Solar Cells with the Efficiency of 11.5%

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [4];  [2]
  1. Wuhan Inst.of Technology, Wuhan (China). Inst. of Materials for Optoelectronics and New Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering
  2. Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China). Wuhan National Lab. for Optoelectronics
  3. Nanjing Univ. of Technology (China). School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division; Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Inst. of Molecular Engineering

Substituting the hydrogen atoms on the conjugated side chain of a wide-bandgap polymer J52 with chlorine atoms can simultaneously increase the Jsc, Voc, and FF of nonfullerene OSCs, leading to an efficiency boost from 3.78 to 11.53%, which is among the highest efficiencies for as-cast OSCs reported to date. To illustrate the impressive 3-fold PCE enhancement, the chlorination effect on the optical properties and energy levels of polymers, film morphology, and underlying charge dynamics is systematically investigated. Grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering studies show that chlorinated J52-2Cl exhibits strong molecule aggregation, the preferred face-on orientation, and enhanced intermolecular pi-pi interactions, hence increasing the charge carrier mobility by 1 order of magnitude. Moreover, chlorination modifies the miscibility between the donor and acceptor and consequently optimizes the phase separation morphology of J52-2Cl:ITIC blend films. Finallyhese results highlight chlorination as a promising approach to achieve highly efficient as-cast OSCs without any extra treatment.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Wuhan Institute of Technology (WIT); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1491094
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 24; ISSN 1948-7185
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 65 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (12)

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Concurrent Optimization of Organic Donor–Acceptor Pairs through Machine Learning journal September 2019
Sequential Deposition of Organic Films with Eco‐Compatible Solvents Improves Performance and Enables Over 12%‐Efficiency Nonfullerene Solar Cells journal March 2019
Chain Engineering of Benzodifuran‐Based Wide‐Bandgap Polymers for Efficient Non‐Fullerene Polymer Solar Cells journal July 2019
Design Principles and Synergistic Effects of Chlorination on a Conjugated Backbone for Efficient Organic Photovoltaics: A Critical Review journal February 2020
Modification of NFA-Conjugated Bridges with Symmetric Structures for High-Efficiency Non-Fullerene PSCs journal June 2019
Two-Step Energy Transfer Dynamics in Conjugated Polymer and Dye-Labeled Aptamer-Based Potassium Ion Detection Assay journal July 2019
Sequential Deposition of Organic Films with Eco-Compatible Solvents Improves Performance and Enables Over 12%-Efficiency Nonfullerene Solar Cells text January 2019
Synthesis of Cyano-Substituted Conjugated Polymers for Photovoltaic Applications journal April 2019
Modification of NFA-Conjugated Bridges with Symmetric Structures for High-Efficiency Non-Fullerene PSCs journal June 2019
Phase Diagrams of n-Type Low Bandgap Naphthalenediimide-Bithiophene Copolymer Solutions and Blends journal September 2019